War Doesn't End After A Ceasefire

Because the aftermath of what happened before continues long after.
War breeds hostility and hatred and creates mistrust and greed.
It extinguishes humanity and breaks the human spirit, argues Aarti David.

As we all go through a new day, we go through myriad emotions about how it will be.

There are multiple to-do lists, various deadlines to be met.

Do you ever feel that, however much you do, it's never enough?

The utter meaninglessness of it all...

Life seems like an unending chase to fulfil one desire, achieve that one goal.

Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if we weren't able to fulfil one task or missed a deadline?

The race for what?

And then, what's next?

We feel let down. Beating ourselves up for being inadequate to be able to manage the timelines and tasks.

What if that missed opportunity, that delay, was a blessing in disguise?

What if it was the reason we are still alive?

Can you imagine if a bomb were dropped where you live and everything you built and everyone you love disappeared from the face of the earth?

What good would the checklists be?

The recent hostilities between our own country and its neighbour and the wars that have been ongoing across the globe have only made me realise the futility of it all.

The more powerful, more dominant players control the narrative and create situations that precipitate the extremities.

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone violent acts of terror or their perpetrators. But I do condemn the aftermath of the war.

The lives that are lost are not those of the likely suspects. The lives lost are those of innocent people. People who, just like us, were going about their day. Planning their routine tasks and timelines, and boom -- they are gone.

Just makes you wonder why we are going about our day without any fear or any concern. Do we believe we are invincible?

The next target cannot be the city where we reside?

That it won't happen to us. But we cannot guarantee that, can we?

Nothing good has ever come out of war except disaster, devastation, doom or death. History proves this -- from the world wars to the continuous conflicts ravaging nations across the world.

True, there would be survivors. But at what cost?

Families who would have lost their children, children who would have lost their parents, wives who would have lost their husbands or husbands who would have lost their wives and so on, or worse still, a whole family decimated.

War doesn't end after a ceasefire. Because the aftermath of what happened before continues long after.

What is lost can never be fully restored. The damage cannot be undone.

War breeds hostility and hatred and creates mistrust and greed. It extinguishes humanity and breaks the human spirit.

I have been reading up about the Holocaust these past few months. And the one thing that stands out is that nothing much has changed from then to now.

Indeed, we have advanced, and technology has given us a competitive edge, enabling us to perform better. However, it has also led to the creation of more devastating weapons of destruction.

What we all need to be mindful of is that no one race is superior to another. No human has the right to erase another just because of their own bias or hatred toward them.

This is not a fight of good over evil. Most often, it's a battle of egos, and humanity is caught in the crossfire.

We continue to be small-minded, fixated on short-term gains. Pursuing power without any purpose and dominance without any direction.

I sometimes wonder how we can be so foolish as to believe that we have control over everything. We must remember that we are all equally vulnerable and nothing lasts forever.

Today, if we annihilate something, tomorrow we will bear the repercussions of our actions.

We are all on a short fuse always, and I guess that, too, is a side effect of the hyper-connected, technology-driven age we exist in.

Every action leads to a reaction, whether we like the result or not. We all have to live with the consequences of the choices we make.

I can't imagine anyone being happy in possession of guns and grenades instead of food and water. No one in their right mind would opt for destruction over subsistence.

We can never be safe if our safety comes at the cost of someone else's.

When we endanger others, it leads to fear, insecurity and resistance. Isn't that the root cause of all conflict?

True victory lies in accepting our differences and recognising that the ultimate goal is peace, both external and internal.

Only when we have inner peace can we manifest peace in our surroundings and our environment.

It may sound simplistic to say 'live and let live'. But if we truly embraced this philosophy, we would have taken the first steps toward a more peaceful coexistence around the world.

Our wants and desires aren't so complicated; all we need is food on our plate, a decent abode, meaningful work, financial stability and most importantly, a warm and loving family.

Have you ever paused to notice how easily we become confrontational or lose our patience rather than being more understanding and sensitive to others' situations?

We'd rather win that argument or prove somebody wrong instead of trying to understand their point of view.

This need to be right -- to pin the blame on someone or have the last word--has become so ingrained in us that we hardly ever question it.

And the worst part is that we don't even realise how damaging it can be, not just for the other person but for ourselves too.

I recently watched Flow, a dialogue-free animated film that speaks through its visual narrative.

It follows a solitary cat's journey of survival in a flooded post-apocalyptic world on a small boat.

Amid destruction and solitude, the cat learns to trust the other animals, even those that it was afraid of.

The movie beautifully illustrates that in the face of adversity, survival isn't just about strength but about connection and trust and the courage to move forward together through life's unpredictable storms.

I hope that we realise before it's too late, that what the world needs is compassion, not conflict. Because in the end, nothing we possess will go with us when we leave this earth.

History will remember us either as saviours or destroyers. The legacy we wish to leave behind is ours to shape. It was always our choice, and it continues to be.

We must be mindful and choose wisely...

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff